“Rebel” nuns receive religious freedom award

The Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has been awarded the prestigious Herbert Haag 2013 prize

Fabrizio MastrofiniRome

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States which is being monitored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was proud to announce that it has been awarded the Herbert Haag 2013.The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is pushing for a revision of the LCWR’s statutes.

The Haag Foundation stated that the 2013 prize was awarded to the LCWR in recognition of its extensive efforts in helping the poor, the marginalised and people in difficult circumstances and of “their careful reflection of the signs of the times in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council,” making the nuns “a pillar of the Catholic Church in the United States of America.”

In the statement, the Foundation gives a critical appraisal of the LCWR’s current situation. It expressly stated that the “women religious, and especially their leaders, stand in the eye of an ecclesiastical storm” as a result of these efforts. In April, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a firm communiqué revealing doctrinal errors in the organisation’s proceedings. A number of the nuns’ social initiatives were considered not to be in line with Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

In recent years, books published by some female theologians have been censored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. April’s communiqué announced the establishment of a commission of bishops that would be responsible for dialogue between the Church and the LCWR, to bring the organisation’s activities back in line with the Holy See’s requirements.

The thorniest issues include the organisation’s initiatives for dialogue with the gay community and the more feminist fringes of U.S. Catholicism who openly favour the ordination of women bishops. Following the failed investigation into the female Congregations, launched by Franc Rodé, the then Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, in 2009, the task of looking into the alleged “doctrinal errors” in the LCWR’s statutes was passed on to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Foundation’s communiqué noted that “the accusations of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are without any substantial foundation and are the result of an unsatisfactory investigation process that lacks transparency.” It added that “the intervention of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is looked upon as a scandal by many Catholics, especially in the United States.” Now the LCWR has been awarded the Herbert Haag Prize for 2013 for Freedom in the Church. The prize honours the memory of theologian Haag (1915-2001), professor for Old Testament at the University of Tubingen (Germany). The prize giving ceremony will be held on 14 April 2013 in Lucerne (Switzerland).